Hakuouki: The Untold Chronicles of Hajime Saitou
by Sierrapeyton
Summary: The Shinsengumi, also known as 'The Wolves of Mibu', were mostly wiped out. Hajime Saitou was one thought to have been defeated, thought to have died honorably in battle. But what happens when he's still alive? Continuation of the anime, set after ending. AU. Saitou and Toku Hijikata pairing, Toku being the "OC", but in reality, is actually Hijikata's sister.
1. An Unexpected Encounter

**A/N First Hakuouki story, definitely written due to a personal vendetta; I did not like the ending of Hakuouki Record of the Jade Blade, the anime, and was forced to write a continuation. But this was mostly written due to an intense  love for Hajime Saitou, and I despised how he "died" or "didn't die" in the anime. So story will be AU, and continue some days after the ending of the anime. Read and review. **

Hajime Saitou stared at the cup of Sake situated on the table in front of him, his deep blue eyes full of the emotions that he usually refused to allow himself to show. He'd survived the battle, but it seemed that no one else had. Hijikata had yet to contact him. It was the same with Harada and Shinpatchi, and he had no idea of where Okita might be. Also, Chizuru hadn't turned up, and secretly, he feared for the young girl's safety. He remembered his oath to her "I will not die", he'd kept his vow, but had she?

Saitou shook his head and closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down. He would not give up hope until he was given irrefutable proof that those he cared about were deceased.

"Sir," A calm voice said, breaking Saitou out of his reverie as he turned towards the voice, "Are you alright?" the voice finished, shaking a little bit. A woman stood beside his table, an expression of fear upon her face due to how quickly Saitou had turned his head towards her.

"I am fine, merely deep in thought." He replied, turning back to his Sake and taking a small sip of the white liquid.

"You are one of the Wolves of Mibu, are you not?" The woman questioned. Saitou's head whipped around to face her and before he realized what was happening, his sword was unsheathed and positioned at the woman's throat.

"Who are you, and what do you know of the Shinsengumi?" Saitou asked, his voice icy cold and his eyes full of blue fire. The woman blanched as the sword grazed her neck, drawing a thin trail of blood that dripped down to the floor at her feet. Saitou stared at the blood, and it became apparent to him that he'd let his emotions get the better of him, a mistake very rarely made by him. He turned away from the petrified woman and sheathed his sword.

"You- you used your left hand, rather than your right, did you not? Would you happen to be-" The woman began to ask, only to be cut off by Saitou.

"I _am_ Hajime Saitou, captain of the 3rd Division of the Shinsengumi, and a master of the left-handed style of fighting." Saitou said, enunciating his words slowly and deliberatly, as he turned back to face her, "and I asked you a question; what do you know of the Shinsengumi?" The woman sighed, and relaxed a little as it seemed that Saitou was not intending to kill her. _Yet, _anyway.

"I am Toku-" She began, but was interrupted by an irritated Saitou.

"I did _not_ ask what your name is, I believe that I _did _ask you-" But to his surprise, he too was interrupted. His, in her opinion due to not knowing Saitou, blatant interrupption got the better of her.

"Fool, I know what you asked me, and I was about to tell you. I am Toku _Hijikata." _She snarled,putting extra emphasis on the Hijikata, although she flinched when Saitou's eyes turned to slits; he was usually very composed, and even respectful, if not even a tad bit shy around women, but this particular lady was grinding on the wary samurai's last nerve. And to top everything off, in his angered state, he had missed the part about her last name being "_Hijikata"._

"I do not know who you are, but calling me a 'fool' for no reason is uncalled for, and considering who I _am, _most would agree that it is downright idiotic to anger me." Saitou said, his voice eerily calm. Toku stared at him, afraid that if she pushed any further, the man with the purple hair and intense blue eyes would actually kill her. She wondered why Toshi hadn't infomed her of how difficult to speak to a person she was to find. She sighed and met Saitou's ocean blue eyes with her startlingly purple one's

"I will repeat myself again, and this time, I want you to listen closely, and do _not _interrupt me." She said slowly, waiting for Saitou to respond before continuing. Noticing this, Saitou offered a barely perceptible nod of his head. Toku began again.

"I am Toku Hijikata, Toshizo Hiji-"

"You are Hijikata's _sister?_" Saitou asked, his voice sounding utterly bewildered. Toku nodded, surprised at how much shock she had obviously caused the seemingly stoic captain.

"I am. He asked me to find you and bring you news of how the battle fared." She said, but stopped as the sound of Saitou's thankfully, now empty cup landed on the table in front of the young man. She looked at him, only to find that his eyes were closed, and his hand was still hanging in the air, from where he had lost his grip on his glass.

"Saitou..." Toku said, drawing out his name as if prompting him to answer her silent question. Saitou's intense blue eyes opened and narrowed into slits as he stared at her, at the same time lowering his hand back to his side.

"So, Hijikata-san is alive, then?" He asked, his voice as impassive as ever. He could not afford to allow himself to hope. Toku's purple eyes softened at his reaction; she could see the warring emotions under Saitou's carefully crafted apathetic mask; the man clearly cared for her brother.

"Yes, Saitou. Hijikata was wounded, but the young girl traveling with him, Chizuru, I believe, got him help." Saitou's face turned shocked, his lips drew into a thin line, and his deep blue eyes widened, his mask falling away and showing the raw emotion underneath.

"Chizuru is alive as well?" He asked, forcing his emotions to coil up again; he hated feelings, and tried to hide them as much as humanly possible. Toku smiled as Saitou closed his eyes once again in relief. She placed her hand carefully on Saitou's shoulder, but moved it as the left-handed samurai's eyes popped open and his aforementioned hand became reflexively poised on the grip of his Katana. Realizing who had touched him, Saitou removed his hand from his weapon and coughed, trying to hide his embarrassment; he had never had much interest in women, though he could feel sexually attracted to them, he simply did not seek out relationships, causing him to feel very awkward when around them, especially one who insisted on laying her hands on him. Toku pretended not to notice the handsome swordsman's awkwardness.

"Saitou, would you care to come with me to see them? I imagine that you must be worried; it has been some days since the battle, has it not?" She asked, meeting his gaze which had once again became trained on her.

Saitou smirked, the left corner of his mouth quirking up as he looked at her and shook his head, as if saying, "Of course I want to see them, why would you ask such a stupid question?" But then his expression darkened.

"Why, when you first spoke to me, did you refer to the Shinsengumi as 'The Wolves of Mibu'? That is a derogatory slur often used to insult us; why would someone as close to Hijikata as you claim to be refer to us in such a way?" He asked, his voice once again filled with venom. To his surprise and annoyance, Toku laughed.

"It upsets Toshizo, does it not?" She began, but ceased laughing when she noticed Saitou's glare. "I'm sorry Saitou, but upsetting Toshizo is something that as his older sister, I feel it my duty to do. Do you have sibilings, Saitou?" Toku asked, her purple eyes innocent. She expected the answer to be a solid "no", due to his apparent lack of understanding of the concept of sibiling rivalry. But Saitou surprised her.

"As a matter fact, I have a younger sister and two younger brothers; I am the eldest." Saitou began, pausing as he noticed Toku's shocked expression, but he, with little regard to the fact that he'd surprised the woman, continued, "but I fail to see how whether or not I was an only child is relevant to the matter at hand." Toku simply shook her head, wondering if Saitou's mask had been something that he'd put up since early childhood, or something that had happened later in life, causing him to forget how he had acted around his sibilings, though she was well aware that making small talk with the samurai would not go in her favor; she'd just ask Toshizo about it later.

"It doesn't matter now, Saitou. I'll explain it to you at a later date, but for now, we should get to Toshizo and Chizuru. It is late, and they will worry; Toshi isn't fully healed, I'd hate for him to try and find us, in his condition." She said, bitterness filling her voice at the mention of her baby brother's injuries.

"How badly was he injured- will he recover?" Saitou asked, once again feeling fear for the Demon Commander's sake. Toku forced herself to smile, an honest attempt to ease his worrying, but she could see how intellectual that the man was, and knew that though he didn't seem great with emotions, he _was_ very good at reading people, and how half-hearted her expression was would not be lost on him. Nonetheless, Toku smiled.

"Yes, he will be fine. Let us go to them, now. Shall we?" She asked, gesturing for Saitou to stand, which he did.

"We shall." Saitou replied, and they began their journey back to Edo and to Hijikata.


	2. Chapter 2:Illness and a Cure

**A/N I'd like to give a special thanks to the people who favorited and followed chapter 1, and another thanks for the guest reviewer; really made me happy, guys. If you have any suggestions for things to do in this Saitou-centered story, please tell me.**

_Saitou: Sierra doesn't own Hakuouki_

_Sierra: No, but I really want to_

_Saitou: You never will, now give up and walk away with a shred of your pride._

_Sierra: Read and review!_

Saitou blindly walked towards Edo with Toku taking the lead, she'd told him moments before that in about ten minutes, they would arrive at her home. Saitou was secretly rather happy with the fact, though his mask of impassiveness prevented him from showing that fact, as did the fact that he had begun to feel slightly ill. He didn't know if the little bit of Sake that he drank was causing his discomfort, though he doubted it considering that he normally had to drink much more to even get a buzz of off it; but to make him full blown hungover was almost implausible. But there was no mistaking that he wasn't well, seeing as how his stomach felt like it would rebel on him at any given moment, and his head was spinning faster than a top; his vision was blurring, and the image of Toku's kimono as it swished at her feet was the one thing that Saitou could focus on clearly enough to use as a guide to his surroundings.

Thankfully, it seemed that Toku was busy getting them back to Edo and hadn't noticed that her near silent companion wasn't well. Saitou dreaded the moment when she found out; from what he'd heard of Hijikata's older sister, she was impossible to beat in an argument. Come to think of it, Chizuru was an Edo woman also, and if she felt like Saitou was unwell, he was sure that she'd nag at him just as persistently as she had Okita when he had received the diagnosis of Tuberculosis. She had hardly let Okita out of bed, let alone do any form of work or strain himself too much.

Although Saitou doubted that he had Tuberculosis, he still felt worse than he would ever be inclined to admit. His skin felt clammy, and he knew that the former was a sign of a fever, which would be bad enough to have on it's own, not even taking in all of his other symptoms into account. Normally, Saitou would have played it cool, and told himself that the symptoms were in his head, but this time, he knew that they weren't; he realized that something was wrong with him, and that he would probably need a doctor's treatment. Unexpectedly enough, the thought made his mind wonder to Yamazaki, the young acupuncturist, who had served as the Shinsengumi's on-hand doctor, as well as their primary spy and messenger. He'd died to protect Hijikata from losing his sanity, the Vice Commander had confided in Saitou one day. Sure, everyone else knew what had happened with the Water of Life, but none knew as well as Saitou what had been going through Hijikata's head that day, when they'd last spoken about it, Hijikata had informed him that, with how out of control of himself that the devil Kazuma has caused him to be, if Yamazaki hadn't impaled himself on Hijikata's sword, The Demon Commander might have turned on Chizuru.

Saitou, though he would never have wished Yamazaki dead, was in a way glad that the young medic had been killed stopping the Vice Commander from turning on the woman that he loved; if Hijikata had killed Chizuru, Saitou wouldn't have been surprised if he'd committed Seppeku right on the spot. The thought made Saitou feel like he was going to be sick, more so than he already did. He tried to force his hazy eyes to focus on Toku's kimono again, but instead he was met with her purple gaze, directly in front of him. Her gaze was full of worry. Saitou blinked and took a step back; she was at an uncomfortably close proximity to him. She seemed to notice his unease, and moved to a more respectful distance from her ocean blue eyed companion. But her gaze never left his, as if she was silently warning him that she knew that he was sick. Saitou forced himself to walk a little faster, as he could now see the gates of Edo village.

But his stomach was tossing like choppy waters, and his head felt like a mallet was being hit against it, summoning his body to declare war on him. He could hear Toku's footsteps behind him, and could practically feel her deep purple gaze on the back of his head.

"Saitou?" Toku suddenly said his name gently, and he turned to face her, the motion making him feel dizzy.

"What is the matter, Toku?" Saitou responded, forcing himself to lift his head up; something that he greatly regretted when the houses that had suddenly come into view around him blurred and the world felt like it was tipping.

"Saitou, this is my house. Would you care to come in?" Toku responded, forcing Saitou go glance at her through his ocean blue eyes that didn't seem to be able to focus for more than a minute or two. He nodded, hoping that his normally silent demeanor could be used as an excuse for not speaking with words. Toku sighed and pushed open a white door on an average looking house with a yellow roof. Saitou was only able to see the color of the aforementioned roof because of how the color reflected the sun's rays and made his eyes hurt. He shook his head slightly, and entered the house.

Inside, Saitou looked around the room, managing to focus on the mats in the main room, which were of assorted colors and shades, and the decorative plants adorning the walls. But suddenly, Saitou could no longer see _anything _as the room had begun to spin at an impossible speed, and the colors of the mat merged into white. Saitou fell forward on his knee, trying to force it all to stop, but just as quickly as the whiteness that was the only thing he could see had appeared, it disappeared, and was replaced by an intense and suffocating black, and Hajime Saitou was aware no more.

Toku Hijikata knew as soon as she heard the thump on the floor what had happened. She didn't want to turn around; she knew that she'd see Saitou unconscious and guilt would overwhelm her. She couldn't handle it. Thankfully, she didn't have to, as it seemed that Toshizo had heard Saitou hit the floor from his room. Her baby brother ran into the main room, and his amethyst eyes widened in shock. He took in his sister with her back to his unconscious captain, and stared in bewilderment, but only for a moment, before jumping into action.

"Harada, Shinpatchi, get your asses in here!" Toshizo yelled to the other two members of the Shinsengumi who had showed up a few days before. The two men rushed into the room, took in Saitou who laid without movement on the floor, and rushed over to their unconscious friend. Harada laid his hand on Saitou's chest, in attempt to hear a heartbeat, but was forced to pull away because of the heat radiating out of the 3rd division captain's body. His face fell as Shinpatchi gave him a look of fear.

"Vice Commander, this isn't good. Saitou-san is burning up, and I mean badly." Harada said, as he grabbed Saitou's wrist and pulled up the sleeve of his black western jacket, to check for a pulse. He was met with a weak pulsating. His breath caught in his throat, as it dawned on him that at this rate, his close friend could die. Harada had already lost too many people; he was not going to lose Saitou. He turned to face Toshizo, who in turn looked at Toku, who nodded.

"I have a spare room that we can put him in." She began, as she spoke through the knot in her throat, "We can put Saitou in there, and figure out what to do." She said. But she was cut off when the sound of Hijikata's door filled the suddenly silent room; Chizuru had awoken. The conscious members of the Shinsengumi and Toku all stared at each other as the brunette girl entered the room, wiping sleep away from her eyes. She looked around the room, and her brown gaze fell upon Saitou, who was being supported on either side by Shinpatchi and Harada, his straight purple hair covering his face. She tried to run to her close friend, but Toshizo grabbed her waist, holding her tightly to him.

"Chizuru." He soothed as best as he could, "you cannot help Saitou now; he needs a doctor." Chizuru stiffened in her lover's arms as tears filled her eyes. Saitou-san had made a promise to her, a vow that he would _not_ die. He wouldn't break that vow _now_, would he?

"Saitou." She muttered in a low voice as Hijikata kissed her hair softly, "Saitou, don't break your vow to me, remember, you can't die!" she changed her tune suddenly and yelled, hoping that Saitou would wake up due to the loudness of her voice, but the purple-haired samurai didn't wake up, and Harada and Shinpatchi finally walked past her as they followed Toku to the spare room, with Harada squeezing her shoulder with the hand not supporting Saitou as he passed by. Shinpatchi offered her a weak smile, which she returned despite the tears coming out of her eyes. She felt Hijikata's shoulder's shake from behind her, and she thought that he was crying, but it seemed that he was angry. She spun around and crushed her lips to his to try and ease some of his anger and sadness. He returned the kiss, but it was desperate, as if he was trying to portray how much worry Saitou was causing him, and how much left over pain stuck with him from the death of his other friends; he did not want Saitou to go out like this.

"Hijikata-san." Chizuru muttered softly, as she broke the kiss, "I can't breathe, and neither can you. Calm down." She said, holding his hands in hers. He looked down at their intertwined fingers and sent a silent prayer to whoever would listen that his friend and fellow samurai would not join them that day.

In the room designated as the medical room for treating Saitou, Shinpatchi and Harada laid their ill comrade upon the futon, situated next the far wall of the medium sized room, his purple hair still covering his normally strict yet calm blue eyes. Harada felt rage at everything take over his mind, and before he could stop himself, he punched the wall next to him. He would've punched it again had Shinpatchi not grabbed his wrist and pulled it back.

"Sono-san. You're just going to hurt yourself, and that _will not_ help Saitou recover any faster. Just stop." Harada stared at Shinpatchi, his amberish green eyes wide. He stared at Saitou, who had not awoken, and his eyes turned slitted again.

Harada ripped his arm away from Shinpatchi and slid down the wall that he had punched. A moment later, Shinpatchi himself followed suite and leaned against the wall beside his friend. Toku glanced at them as she cautiously approached Saitou, as if expecting the handsome samurai to wake up and instinctively attack her. No such luck. Toku sighed and placed her hand on his forehead, in the process pushing his hair out of his eyes; he was still burning up.

"The fever hasn't went down at all, in fact, I think that its' gotten worse." Toku said wearily, "I'm going to have to get this jacket off of him." She said, expecting snickers from the too far more immature men. But she was met with Shinpatchi's sad blue gaze, and Harada's amber one, where his barely contained emotions were all but in the open for everyone to see. She sighed and undid the buttons on the western coat, which seemed to have been fastened incorrectly. She sighed and worked the jacket out from under Saitou's body, and then went for the vest that he had worn underneath. She made quick work of it, and tossed it aside; he was finally, only wearing the white undershirt that came with the outfit. She unfastened it and tossed it aside, and glanced at Saitou's bare torso.

Toku then turned to Harada and Shinpatchi, whose gazes were full of fear; they saw something on Saitou's torso that the woman did not. There was a large gash on the young samurai's body, spanning from the top of his shoulder down to his ribcage. The wound was jagged, as if cut into more than once, and infection oozed out of it; this was the cause of Saitou's illness, it all made sense now.

Harada shot forward as nausea overwhelmed him, but he did not vomit, just dry heaved for a moment before he forced himself to calm down. Shinpatchi laid his hand on Harada's shoulder, and Harada nodded, leaving the room. Shinpatchi sighed and glanced at Toku, offering another weak smile.

"We'll call the doctor. It'll be a miracle if he get's here in time." He said, before walking out.

Toku dropped down to the floor beside Saitou's futon and cried.

Saitou fought to regain consciousness, but his limbs felt heavy, and he felt nauseous. His head still pounded, and he thought that he could hear water in his ears. But he forced himself to walk towards the light, fought past how ill he felt, and charged towards awareness-

Hajime Saitou shot up with a gasp, as the room he was in spun, and refused to remain in his focus. He heard a soft voice calling to him, but he couldn't respond, because if he did, he'd be sick for sure. But as his stomach heaved violently, it became apparent that he was going to lose that battle anyway. Thankfully Toku placed a bucket under the 3rd division captain's mouth, just before the nausea won out over him and he vomited. She rubbed his back gently, careful not touch the infected wound that the doctor had bandaged up. Toku sighed deeply as she remembered what the doc had said about Saitou's condition.

_'This young man is clearly a fighter, to have survived this long, however, there is nothing that I can do for him; his survival is in the hands of the Gods now.' _

She sighed as Saitou stopped being sick and glanced at her, she could see that he was about to black out again. She put the bucket down and wrapped a gentle arm around Saitou's waist as he fell forward. That's when she felt how shallow his breathing was, it was ragged, too, as if he were forcing it out of his lungs.

"Hijikata!" She yelled, as sadness washed over her. She knew that Saitou only had moments left.

Hijikata entered the room with a vial of red liquid. He pushed past Toku who glared at him, worried about what he was about to do.

"Hijikata, what the hell is that?" She ground out, but Hijikata didn't listen, just grabbed Saitou and pried his mouth open, and forced the bottle into his mouth. Soon, the Water of Life was drained and the vial was dropped. Hijikata turned to leave, but was met with the shocked gazes of Harada, Shinpatchi, and Chizuru.

"Hijikata?" Chizuru said, her eyes welling with tears, "what have you done?" She finished, as she let the tears fall.

But Hijikata didn't have an answer.

What _had he _done?

What exactly had he done?

"Shit." He said, as fear for Saitou gripped his heart.

Hijikata just hoped that the samurai could find it in himself to forgive.

If not, Hijikata knew that he would pay in blood.


End file.
